Yahoo Autos Dodge Nearly Sold Viper Production to a Bunch of Enthusiasts in 2008
It's hard to imagine the Viper being built by any company except Dodge, but apparently, that came somewhat close to happening eight years ago. Back in 2008, with the economy in a recession and the U.S. auto industry hurting badly, Chrysler's then-parent company Cerberus actually put the Viper up for sale. Not just the car car, but the entire brand and production infrastructure.
As Automotive News reported in May 2009, Chrysler didn't manage to find a buyer after several months, and later that year, Dodge had to announce the end of Viper production with no plans for a successor. But for a brief moment in 2009, it seemed like that wouldn't be the case-it's recently come to light that a group of wealthy car enthusiasts devised a plot to try to save the second-generation Viper.
This story was first revealed by Ronnie Schreiber at The Truth About Cars. Schreiber spoke with race driver and car collector, and builder of the SCG 003 Jim Glickenhaus, who had an inside view of the stillborn plot to save the Viper. I called Glickenhaus to get some more details.
Glickenhaus will be the first to tell you his recollection of these events is spotty, but with some research, we've come up with what we think is a reasonably accurate timeline. Given that the Viper brand was very much for sale in 2008, Road & Track believes this is when the group of wealthy enthusiasts approached Cerberus.
"This investment group had the financial wherewithal to do it," Glickenhaus told R&T. "They were a bunch of enthusiasts and they thought there was value in the Viper name, the plant, and [the car itself]."
The investors approached Glickenhaus–who has built a number of limited-production street and race cars under the Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus name–seeking advice. He recommended against buying the rights to the Viper.
"I thought that car was pretty tired, and it needed a revamping," said Glickenhaus. "They would have come up with a better car . . . [but] they'd be spending a lot of money to do it."
Glickenhaus believes the investor group was very close to making a deal with Chrysler, but it's unclear exactly how close it was. He told TTAC that he's not entirely sure why the investors decided to back out. Members of the group of investors are friendly with Glickenhaus, but they could not be reached for comment.
Even though this deal never materialized, it's fascinating to imagine what could have happened if the Viper became a pet product built by a group of wealthy enthusiast investors. If the deal had gone through, we likely wouldn't have gotten the third-generation Viper we have today-the one that, after years of disappointing sales, is being discontinued. Could an independent, boutique company have saved the Viper from this fate? It's up to our imaginations to decide.
